Tips to Avoid Smoking

Tips to Avoid Smoking

WHY DO PEOPLE SMOKE? Smoking is by far, one of the most disgusting habits a person can have. It not only damages your own body but it also affects the people around you. When you’re smoking, you’re inhaling all the wrong(carcinogens?) gases and harming your lungs, your heart and at some points, your mind as well.

People start smoking at a young age, it might seem cool, holding a cigarette, mostly just for fun but eventually, it turns into an addiction that you can’t get rid off. However, there are many people out there who think about quitting every now and then, as difficult as it may seem, it is still possible.

For a person who is trying to quit, there are a million questions that pop up in their minds, ‘is smoking really that bad?’ ‘Why is it so hard to quit?’ ‘how can refraining from smoking benefit an individual’s health?’ ‘How to quit smoking naturally? And so many other things. Nevertheless (all the confusions)remove, you should always do the right thing and throw out your cigarette and yell I QUIT!

Here are some of the tips that would help you do that:

1. Motivation:

There’s nothing more important than realizing the importance of quitting smoking. The first step towards quitting is motivation. You can’t quit until you’re absolutely sure you want to be done with smoking. The real question here is where do I get motivation from? It’s easy, you need to jot down a couple of things, ask yourself questions like:

✓ What makes you a smoker?

✓ Is it tension? Is it just for fun?

✓ Is it because you need something to release the stress?

✓ Is it because you’re not having success in everything else?

Or some other reason? You need to find your reason to smoke and then you need to eliminate that factor in your life. If it’s tension, you should try doing things to release tension; i.e: yoga, meditation, therapy etc.

Another thing you want to do is find reasons not to smoke. For instance, note down things that would help you remember how harmful smoking can be:

✓ Causes of lung problems.

✓ Effects on other people’s health.

✓ Can cause heart problems as well.

✓ Makes your breath smell bad.

✓ Ruins your teeth.

If you have these things listed down, these would increase your motivation level and will most probably help you quit cigarettes as soon as possible.

2. Quit One by One:

When it comes to quitting a habit, you can’t expect yourself to quit altogether. You need to give yourself time. Narrow your cigarette intake one at a time. Take 2 cigarettes a day for about a week and then 1 cigarette a day and then eventually just end smoking. According to a psychological study, you can use few tips to quit smoking one by one.

1. Make a plan.

2. Take no outside help.

3. Use self-quitting method.

4. Reduce intake of cigarettes one by one.

5. Use Nicotine patch if you must.

6. Avoid any medication whatsoever.

7. Use herbs to quit smoking.

8. Try non-tobacco cigarettes.

This way, you can quit smoking easily and it wouldn’t really feel like you’re quitting, it would be more like phasing out on smoking.

3. Socializing:

One of the most effective ways to distract yourself is through socializing. The more you connect with people, the more you forget about things that don’t matter. When you feel the need to smoke, go to a friend or acquaintance or someone and start talking to them about different things. You won’t even realize your time has passed and you haven’t smoked. Also, socializing helps you reduce stress. If you’re the kind of person who likes talking to people, just start doing it without hesitation. There are a couple of ways you can socialize with people:

✓ Try support groups: In support groups, you’re expected to talk about your feelings and you never know, you might end up making new friends.

✓ Family gatherings: Some people feel best when they’re with their family. Sit with them and talk to them as much as you can to make yourself forget about all your problems.

✓ Parties: Try going to clean parties where people aren’t drinking or smoking and indulge yourself in fun activities, you’ll forget all about smoking.

4. Eat Healthy:

I think it’s pretty obvious when someone tells you to start eating healthy when you’re trying to quit something that is causing harm to your body. However, when it comes to smoking, eating healthy doesn’t have to mean you have to stick to a routine where you HAVE TO eat salads, fruits and protein to keep yourself in shape, NO. What you have to do is when you quit smoking, you have many cravings, mostly food cravings of any kind.

You want to eat like crazy just to get over that smoking urge building up inside you. When this happens, you don’t have to start eating something that would harm your body even more than cigarettes would eat something fulfilling here. For instance, you can eat spinach, it is rich in iron and you would get full just by eating it once.

Some of the foods that would help you quit are as following:

✓ Milk: When you drink milk right before you want to smoke a cigarette, the taste of the cigarette would get ruined and you would probably want to throw it out.

✓ Nuts: Nuts provide you with a lot of protein, they can be eaten as a snack.

✓ Salty snacks: Salt helps you refrain from smoking and control the craving.

✓ Yogurt: Dairy products ruin the taste of cigarettes and yogurt is a dairy product so the more you intake sweetened yogurt, the better.

✓ Gum: Gum is a great way to avoid smoking because with gum in your mouth keeps moving and you don’t have space to smoke.

5. Positive Thoughts:

This might seem mainstream but it’s completely plausible. The more positive thoughts you have, the easier it would be for you to quit smoking. You would be surprised to know how much your thoughts can affect your habits.

If I’m the kind of person who likes to think negatively about everyone or speak bad about someone, I wouldn’t be able to calm myself down and when I’m not calm, I wouldn’t mind taking a cigarette to release the tension. Now, paint another picture, where you’re happy, spreading positive thoughts, sharing positive initiatives and being positive, would you want to smoke then? I’m guessing no. While attempting to quit smoking, you should try to be happy and jolly.

When you’re quitting smoking, you might think you’ll go into depression but you won’t because smoking isn’t the source of your happiness. Only you have the power to make yourself happy. So take the cigarettes away from you and make your life worth living. Know when to quit because your health is way more important than a drug that causes you harm.